Title Game Musings

NFC

First of all, The Oceanliner would like to congratulate Elisha Manning, who has dealt with as much criticism and scrutiny as any American athlete this decade. To be able to deal with all of the shit he gets, put it behind him and guide his team to three straight road playoff wins and into the Superbowl is simply amazing. Lil’ bro is a starting quarterback on the biggest stage of his sport, and no one can take that away from him. Now I have been known to imbibe the Haterade on many occasions, but credit should be given where it is due. And Manning has been simply superb in this postseason. A 62% completion percentage, 4 touchdowns and absodutely most importantly no turnovers in the Giants run to Glendale. Add this to the fact that Eli has now won 10 straight road starts and you have to conclude that he’s pretty damn good. He’s in the Big Game in just his 4th season, half of what it took Peyton. I know he plays in the JV-like NFC, but that’s not his fault. He is one of the key reasons the G-Men are in the Superbowl, and no one can take that away from him.

That second half of the NFC Championship game was incredibly entertaining football. Touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, field goal (with an interception then fumble by the Giant’s RW McQuarters thrown in the middle), missed field goal, punt, punt, punt (with another fumble by McQuarters), missed field goal, interception, winning field goal is how the second half and overtime played out. It was riveting stuff. The atmosphere was incredible and crazy stuff kept on happening left and right. I was stunned when Lawrence Tynes’ last field goal split the uprights after he had chunked his previous two attempts like a bad pitching wedge. From 47 yards!!! Unbereivable.

It makes me so happy that the Packers lost the game because of a Brett Favre heave-ho interception. We were recording the game at Ribrary Courts, and I must have watched that pick from the back angle 10 times. It was a horrendous pass, through and through. It was single man-coverage and Jennings had position on the out route. All Brett “Gunslinger” Favre had to do was put the ball to the outside and it’s either a catch or an incompletion. Instead he floats the lamest duck I’ve ever seen and Corey Webster intercepts easily. That throw was so bad and so weak it would have made Chad Pennington proud. Mr. Wrangler Jeans’ other INT was no prettier, an off balance, spin move prayer that had no shot, but was saved by RW McQuarters’ fumble-itis. Maybe the best present anyone could ever get me would be a compilation of every interception of Brett Favre’s career. I could watch that over and over and over and over. Priceress.

I also love how bad Al “Predator” Harris got burned all game. He kept getting all up into Plaxico Burress’ face, trying to act all hardass and intimidating and provoking random shoving matches at the end of seemingly every play. If you are going to act like a hardass, you better play like one. Al Harris instead played like a chump, allowing Plax to go for 11 catches and 154 yards in a game where the Packers lined up almost exclusively in man coverage, with Harris on Burress. Congratulations Al, you look like a fool.

At some point we have to talk about the weather at Lambeau. That shit was absolutely ridiculous. At the end of the game Fox reported that it was –4 degrees with a wind-chill of –24. You call off Everest expeditions in that kind of weather, much less a football game. The Weather Channel’s website tracks conditions for major sporting events, and has a “spectator index” from 1-10 on how favorable the weather is. They had the NFC title game as a 1, but it deserved it’s own category of hell. ESPN reported that viedographers had to put quilts and blankets over their cameras to keep them functioning. They said fans in the parking lots before the game couldn’t drink their beer because it all froze too fast. I hope Tom Coughlin isn’t put on the Giant’s injury report with facial frostbite. He looked like he got rocked in the face with a two-by-four. Packers coach Mike McCarthy “looked like he was about to climb Mt. McKinley”, said eminent Oceanliner roommate Mr. Schlingbaum. I got cold watching the game. Nuts is what that was.

AFC

It’s all about performance in the red zone folks. That’s where the AFC tile game was won and lost. Both teams played very well. It was obvious that both squads were well prepared and deserved to be in this Championship game. But you make your money in the red zone, and that’s exactly why the Patriots are heading to the desert to take on the Giants instead of San Diego.

Not surprisingly, the Pats led the league in converting red zone opportunities into touchdowns, at a stellar 69.4% rate. They did even better on Sunday, hitting pay dirt on 3 out of their 4 trips inside of San Diego’s 20-yard line. And this is with the Chargers defense playing well. They held Brady and Co. to 15 points below their season average and forced 3 turnovers.

No, it was the New England red zone defense that won this ball game. They stepped up their play when it was needed most, and that was the difference in this game. The Patriots red zone defense was actually the sixth worst in the league in the regular season, allowing opposition touchdowns on 59% of drives into the red zone. On Sunday? A big fat 0%. On three of the San Diego scoring drives they got the ball inside the 10 yard line even, and had to settle for Nate Kaeding field goals. And while not technically in the red zone, the 4th field goal came from the 22-yard line. Four times the Chargers drove deep into enemy territory, and four times the Patriots defense said shit no you ain’t getting into the end zone. The Chargers themselves were 7th in the league in turning red zone opportunities into touchdowns, but they failed against New England. This is where the Chargers missed LT the most and his extreme nose for the end zone. There is a reason Tomlinson is already 7th on the career touchdown list. He possesses the knack and the huger to punch the ball in when his team is close to scoring. As good as Michael Turner and Darren Sproles are, they don’t have that talent. The difference in the AFC title game was red zone performance, and had LT been out there, Superbowl 42 may have been marching to the beat of a different drum.

One other note about this game. Similar to LT’s nose for the end zone is some defensive players ball hawking instinct. The one that certain players have and always seem to be in the right place at the right time for the interception. Antonio Cromartie has this skill, and it cannot be taught, it’s just a feeling these guys have. Darren Sharper of the Vikings has it. So do Asante Samuel and Champ Bailey. Cromartie led the NFL with 10 picks this year, and had another brilliant one against Tom Brady. The Patriots had the ball at 3rd and goal from the 2-yard line and Brady drops back to pass. Cromartie is playing a soft zone and patrolling the middle of the end zone. Behind him, stud tight end Ben Watson throws a great juke and becomes wide open in the back of the end zone. Note that Cromartie cannot see Watson behind him, yet still shades to his left, just by following Brady’s eyes and having a sixth sense about where the play will end up. Brady delivers the ball a little low and Cromartie darts ever farther over, covering Watson and making the spectacular interception. This play probably took 3-4 seconds. There is no time for a DB to think in this situation, only time to react. Some DB’s have this sixth sense about how the play is developing and where the ball is going to be. Cromartie has this ability, and it is impressive to watch.

Well, that’s it for today. The Oceanliner is very grateful for the stats page on the USA Today website, or else this post would have been sunk. I had a very relaxing three day weekend, and saw two things worth noting. First, I saw There Will Be Blood in the theater on Saturday. It is a must see. 2 hours and 40 minutes of Daniel Day Lewis being a ruthless hardass. It was a very powerful movie and freakin sweet. Secondly, I caught the series premiere of Breaking Bad on AMC on Sunday night. It’s a show about a high school chemistry teacher (the dad from Malcolm in the Middle) with a shitty life who starts cooking crystal meth on the side to make some extra money. The pilot was nuts, with crazy stuff going on supplemented by hilariously dry one-liners. Another thing to check out.

In an unprecedented move, I hope to have another post up this week about non-NFL playoff related items. So check back hopefully Friday for some more Oceanliner original programming. If not, sue me. Until next time, stay safe, keep it real and nurse your beers.